As environmental challenges continue and the major global governing bodies undergo reform, there has never been such an urgency to shift populations into a sustainable path of life. With the continuous aim of driving sustainability in the UAE, EEG has formulated a long term strategy that engages all sectors of society and encourages the simple environmental practice of recycling. Appropriate waste management is a major hurdle that stands in the way of sustainable development, but with the continued efforts of EEG, its members and participants, waste management is gradually becoming controlled and sustainable. The waste management campaigns also rely heavily on effective awareness and outreach strategies, which is why EEG also organises so many public events and sprightly publications. However, it is imperative that waste management and recycling is taken seriously by everyone, across the planet, because it needs a collaborative effort in order to achieve maximum benefits.
It is estimated that 500 million canned beverages are sold every year in the UAE. It is said that only 5% of these cans are sent for recycling as opposed to a whopping 63% recycled world-wide. Thus, in order to bring the UAE on par with the world, EEG has taken it upon itself to inculcate the habit of proper waste management and recycling among the UAE community. It is also advantageous that recycling Aluminum only requires 5% of the energy needed for primary Aluminum production. The UAE needs to tap into this part of waste management and EEG is ensuring that it is on the agenda of every academic institution, company and family in the country. In fact because the benefits of recycling Aluminium are so high, EEG has been conducting the Can Collection Campaign since 1997, supported by two popular action days; "the Can Collection Day and the Can Collection Drive".
There is no reason not to recycle papers! Recycling paper saves natural resources, saves energy, saves trees, creates less toxic by-products and helps reduce waste going to landfill. Paper is among the easiest item to recycle because it is dry, clean and easy to store. Using recycled paper to make 1 ton of new paper saves 17 trees, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, 360 gallons of water and 60 pounds of air pollutants. Furthermore, using recycled paper to make new paper uses 60% less energy than using fresh timber. EEG thought that these facts and figures were too beneficial to ignore and consequently set up its most successful campaign in 2001 to collect and recycle papers, cardboard, magazines and other products made of paper. The campaign allows companies, individuals and academic institutions to participate and show their dedication towards the environment.
Plastics have revolutionised our world, everywhere we look we are surrounded by plastics in some form or another. Plastic bags are also under debate across the world - 'should they be banned?' is a major question facing many governments. It is often a common sight to see plastic bags littered across beautiful landscapes - whether they were intentionally or accidentally released into the environment, they take hundreds of years to decompose. However, there is another way...recycling! This simple act reduces the amounts of inert plastics ending up in the landfills and teaches responsible disposal through waste segregation and recycling. Since 2005, EEG has been an advocate of plastic recycling and now encourages all of the UAE to join forces and recycle one of the most abundant materials on the planet, after all plastic bags do not litter the landscapes, people do! Thus, it is imperative to spread awareness for responsible waste management through recycling and gather this bulky yet light weight material for a new lease of life.
With a life span even longer than plastic, glass is also another common and practical material that is found all over the world. With its inert properties it has become a highly useful and popular container for many items especially foods and liquids. It can take up to a million years for a glass bottle to break down naturally, but when recycled glass can be turned around and manufactured into a new product in as little as 30 days. Where is the sense in throwing such a valuable and easily reusable material away?! EEG believes that there is no logic in throwing away glass that will take up valuable space in a landfill when it can be recycled over and over again. Since 2005 EEG has been inviting the UAE community to collect and hand over their glass no matter what colour it is. Glass comes from 3 main materials; sand, silica and limestone. Therefore to make new glass products, these natural resources must be sourced from the earth.
Printers have become one of the most important assets of every computer user. Whether you have a printer at home that is used rarely or use a printer at work everyday, at some point the ink will run out and the cartridge will need replacing. For many this cumbersome and sometimes messy process results in another bulky item thrown aside into the trash can, but for what reason? Since 2001 EEG has propagated that toners should be disposed of responsibly due to their toxic components and long life span if thrown into a landfill. As cartridges are made from industrial products they take thousands of years to degrade. EEG's collection campaign was initiated with the aim of diverting as many toners as possible away from the landfill and use for recycling or refilling. It is a common misconception that buying refilled cartridges may alter the print quality or damage the printer, but if purchased at a reputable outlet the quality is just as good and the costs are lower on your budget and the environment.
In this modern day and world, mobile phones have become an attachment we can not live without. With a thriving market and new technologies constantly being released the turn over of mobile phones is one of the highest in the electronic world. This means that thousands of tons of plastics and valuable metals are tied up in old, unused mobiles, often just collecting dust in the bottom draw. By recycling mobiles, valuable materials are freed up and resources are turned into new products. It was with this in mind that EEG and Nokia ventured into a joint collaboration to encourage UAE residents to recycle their old mobiles. In an attempt to focus on e-waste, EEG and Nokia launched the Mobile Take Back initiative in May 2009 with the aim of recycling mobile phones and all their accessories. In addition, the Borrow-a-Bin Campaign was initiated and received good response from schools and organizations, resulting in a collection of 367 mobile phones as of August 2011.
The invention of TetraPak has revolutionised the food packaging world - they provide a secure, air and water tight atmosphere making food and liquid storage easy and light weight. Furthermore, once emptied they can be squashed and flattened into compact parcels. Until recently TetraPaks had to be disposed of because of their complex multi-layer formation. TetraPaks contain layers of polyethylene, paper and aluminium foil, which have to be separated in order for the materials to be reused. Now this technology has arrived, EEG saw that there was no time to spare and could not bare the thought of all TetraPaks nation wide ending up in the landfills. EEG launched the TetraPak recycling campaign in March 2010 in collaboration with TetraPak Arabia.
Batteries are a genius invention that allows us to have power wherever we go. The chemical energy transition to electrical energy has changed our lives so much, we take these little power cells for granted. However, what seems a small harmless and ingenious invention on the outside actually contains harmful substances on the inside. As batteries age the harmful chemicals inside can leak out, exposing us and the environment to hazardous substances. When batteries are thrown out with the general household waste, they end up in landfills which can be highly reactive at times. Chemicals and metals such as nickel cadmium, mercury, nickel metal hydride and lead acid seep into the environment, contaminate water supplies and cause harm to wildlife and pose threats to human health. This is precisely why in 2006 EEG launched its battery collection to raise awareness for the safe disposal of such items. The focus of the campaign is to urge the community to collect dry cell batteries. EEG has also collaborated with Dubai Municipality's Hazardous Waste Treatment plant for the safe disposal of the collected batteries.
For the last couple of years, EEG has formulated short and valuable programs that could give the students opportunities to participate actively in EEG's summer programme and provide platform to exhibit their proactiveness and also fulfil their responsibility to the community they live in; and the outcome has been overwhelming. Thank you to the students who have valuably given their efforts to make the summer projects meaningful and successful. The Neighbourhood Recycling Project is not just a summer programme but an ongoing EEG project for the whole year. Students, individuals and families, once registered, can collect Mobiles, Tetrapak, Paper, Plastic and Toners & Cartridges (the minimum quantity required) for recycling in two weeks for an opportunity to plant a tree in their name in one of the public places in UAE.
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